The text of The Lotus Sutra states:
~All the world reasons that I have just in this lifetime first attained enlightenment,
but I have attained enlightenment and come here for limitless boundless lifetimes .~
The sutra`s name in Sanskrit is Saddharma-pundarika Sutra, or `Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law`. It is a matter of faith in
some schools of Buddhism that the sutra contains the words of the
historical Buddha.The complete sutra is extremely complex and would take me a life time to understand, or many lifetimes to learn is deeper meanings, like any philosophical text.
Since one of my favorite flowers is the Lotus, but more importantly it is the middle name of my little angel niece Padma, I have decided to delve a little more into this beautiful of all of creation`s history.
The Lotus symbolizes the
causality of the spiritual life of man, as it rises up from the mud of the swamps or murky still waters. As it grows through the murky water , which symbolizes all worldly sensory desires and emotions, towards the light.
As it gets to be born into the world and almost like a baby, takes its first breath, it ascends and penetrates into the mental world of thoughts and ideas. Its life mission and aspiration is to reach the light of the sun, aspiring towards heavens, towards the spiritual illumination, the Dharma, as it it blossoms into a pure white flower. It is the manifestation of sacredness, purity and trustworthiness .
It thus represents the Four Virtues of Nirvana personified by the four followers of Buddha. The blossom symbolizes the inseparability of the cause and effect, the provision and reality, and the source and manifestation of enlightenment.
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